Rev. Dr. Leona Stucky presented a paper, The Fog of Faith: How the Imprint of the First Nurturing Relationship Affects Beliefs, Meaning and Foggy Ideas of Faith, at the New England & Canadian Maritimes Region of the American Academy of Religion, (NEMAAR), on Friday March 22, 2019, at Tufts University, Boston, MA.​It’s delicate, cutting into the heart of theology. Like a scalpel, this paper separates evolutionary imprints, gendered battles for our hearts and minds, and our enmeshed search for comfort and evidence. Can wisdom that marks the ages remain wisdom in our age? This question riddles its way throughout a personal faith journey. We explore scientific reflections and experience-near data that illuminate human meaning-making processes.

The Commission works to Address Violence against Rural and Indigenous women-Challenges and Strategies. The panel discussed the prevalence of Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking of rural and Indigenous women, identify lifestyle, religious, and cultural framework considerations, describe the panel members’ “lessons learned” in overcoming these access challenges, and explore changes needed to improve future response. Panelists will include educators, service providers and survivors.

Rural and Indigenous women face specific challenges in accessing services when they’ve experienced sexual violence, domestic violence, or human trafficking. For many rural and Indigenous women, lack of access goes far beyond location restrictions. When services are provided, it is often done with little understanding of the inter-generational distrust of institutionalized systems, as well as lifestyle, religious, and cultural frameworks that impact acceptance of services.

The goal for the attendees is to 1) Recognize the unique challenges facing rural and Indigenous women when they experience violence; 2) learn strategies to address these challenges in trauma-informed, culturally sensitive ways in order to best serve victim/survivors of violence.

The International Public Policy Institute is committed to stopping violence against women in the form of Human Trafficking, especially sex trafficking. We have worked on policy development at many levels and venues. IPPI members provide education about human trafficking and promote Human Trafficking prevention programs. IPPI has participated in CSW and provided parallel events at CSW for many years.

Melanie writes: "I thought of Leona Stucky when I heard Winfrey’s speech. Stucky’s memoir, The Fog of Faith: Surviving My Impotent God, bears witness to the pain Winfrey addressed at the Golden Globes, a pain carried by women who have, Winfrey said, “endured years of assault and abuse because they had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue.” The Fog of Faith adds to the cultural narrative unspooling before us of women’s life trajectories having been sent off-course by the evil acts of men.

Stucky begins her story near Moundridge, Kan., in the 1950s, where she was raised Mennonite on a farm with six siblings. When Stucky was a teenager, her mom’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis meant her father assumed the role of caregiver and sole supporter for the family. Stucky admired her father and enjoyed helping him with the farm work, doing chores other families might have reserved for boys....

Stucky raises important questions about how people keep or lose their faith in God when life brings intense suffering. Tragic circumstances cast doubt on deeply held beliefs: a pacifist’s rejection of violence is challenged by the heinous acts of a violent man. As she moved away from her childhood faith, and from simplistic beliefs about God, she found herself questioning God’s existence. If God did exist, “his failure to help people was unforgiveable.” God was impotent."

Johnny Tan interviews Leona Stucky on his podcast "From My Mother's Kitchen." Listen in on their conversation about "The Fog of Faith": her spiritual journey, and how the power of faith, hope, and love can help you overcome life’s challenges...

Memoir expert, Jerry Waxler, delves deep into "The Fog of Faith" in his blog post titled "Memoirs heal the moral injury of rape."

"Leona Stucky’s story demonstrates the psychological struggle many of us face in midlife. Whereas earlier in our lives, in order to say energized, we did everything we could to dismiss or overlook the past, as we grow older, we find an increasing urgency to make sense of that past. And we can only do that through the development of our stories.

By teasing apart our journeys, especially the dark times, and the ensuing compassion and courage, scene by scene and chapter by chapter, we can deeply understand our own intellectual, psychological, and philosophical evolution."

In the fall of 2017 Leona's memoir, "The Fog of Faith" went on an online blog tour! Fourteen bloggers welcomed "The Fog of Faith" in a virtual tour that included reader reviews, book spotlights, and guest posts by Leona. Check out the tour launch, calendar, and interview by WOW! Women on Writing blogger Crystal Otto. Click to read.

An experience of shame makes us lower our heads, hearts pounding, eyes directed to the floor, while we imagine we might be anywhere else. We sometimes use shame to master our behavior. Culture and religion use shame to master us. Politics is an ongoing battle over who gets to say what is or is not shameful. In numerous circumstances death has been preferable to shame. How does this powerful and often unnoticed force affect us?

The Rev. Dr. Leona Stucky-Abbott has been a psychotherapist for more than thirty years. She is a UU community minister in Santa Fe, a post-graduate teacher, clinical supervisor, and AAPC Diplomate. She recently became an author when her unflinching memoir The Fog of Faith: Surviving My Impotent God was published. Leona’s book received acclaim from MS Magazine, and is available on Amazon. Click to listen.

Women of Anabaptist Traditions is an interdisciplinary conference, Crossing the Line:Women of Anabaptist Traditions Encounter Borders and Boundaries, took place at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.Scholars from around the globe as well as students and others interested in women’s and Anabaptist/Mennonite history gather for cross-disciplinary panels, sessions, and conversations.The conference theme invites us to consider how Anabaptists, Mennonites, Amish, and related groups have bumped up against – and traversed – physical and figurative borders, right up to the present day.

Ms. Magazine listed "The Fog of Faith" under "10 Feminist Books to Read This Summer." This piece appears in the Summer 2017 issue of Ms.

"Stucky was just 16 when her boyfriend, fearing she would leave him, raped her and threatened her life. Years later, after they were married and raising a child together, his abuse only became more severe and unrelenting. In her chilling and tumultuous memoir, Stucky recounts her attempts to play by the rules of the Mennonite Church that failed to protect her, and her embrace of feminist notions of faith and survival that finally led her to a new life."